Part of the draw of CSSHL has been its focus on non-parent coaching, no league games during weekdays, and a single, dedicated school per organization, with the objective of integrating school and academic priorities.

The CSSHL originally started as a high school (midget level) focused organization, which grew out the Okanagan and Calgary areas (OHA, PoE, Edge and IHA). It has since evolved into a seven division super league serving elite male and female athletes across the four western provinces.

The new BC Major Bantam League teams will reflect seven of the 11 BC Major Midget League draw zones – Fraser Valley, Greater Vancouver, Okanagan, Thompson, Vancouver North East, Vancouver North West and Valley West.

This marks the second expansion of the concept.

BC Hockey expanded the league earlier this year from its original 11 zone Major Midget focus to include a 10 zone Minor Midget league (no Kootenay). Again this was in response to the rapidly growing CSSHL Elite 15 (E15) midget division, which is now up to 13 teams, including 8 from BC.

Major Bantam Evaluation Camps

The BC Major Bantam team evaluation camps will be held at the end of March – beginning of April, with registration opening early in the New Year.

At the conclusion of the spring camps, teams will commit to a minimum of 11 players and are permitted to commit to up to 19 maximum, consisting of 17 skaters and two goalies.

Team rosters will be finalized by August 31.

The regular season will be comprised of 30 games and will feature two Showcase weekends, where all 7 teams play in one location over a weekend, giving scouts a chance to view many prospective draft picks together.

The first Showcase will be scheduled over the weekend of September 27-29, 2019; the second over the weekend of January 10-12, 2020.

In addition, a Major Bantam AAA tournament will be hosted in Kelowna around the MML Showcase weekend – dates to be confirmed.

Playoffs will take place from March 19 through March 22.

Fees:

Evaluation camp: $299.00

Program cost: $6,290.00, plus taxes, insurance and miscellaneous.

Coaches – Staff Wanted

BC Hockey is seeking head coach, assistant coach, trainer and general manager for all teams.

Head coaches must have completed their High Performance 1 certification and assistant coaches must have a minimum of Development 1.

All BC Hockey team officials must have Respect in Sport (RIS), submit a Criminal Record Check (CRC), a Vulnerable Persons Check (VPC) and be qualified in the Concussion Awareness Training Toolkit (CATT).

Head coach applications must be submitted to BC Hockey no later than January 1, 2019. All other applications are due by March 15, 2019.